Taming Unruly Wind Power

[phantom power]

For decades, electric companies have swung into emergency mode when demand soars on blistering hot days, appealing to households to use less power. But with the rise of wind energy, utilities in the Pacific Northwest are sometimes dealing with the opposite: moments when there is too much electricity for the grid to soak up.

So in a novel pilot project, they have recruited consumers to draw in excess electricity when that happens, storing it in a basement water heater or a space heater outfitted by the utility. The effort is rooted in some brushes with danger.

...

When excess supply threatens Bonneville’s grid, an operator in a control room hundreds of miles away will now dial up a volunteer’s water heater, raising the thermostat by 60 more degrees. Ceramic bricks in a nearby electric space heater can be warmed to hundreds of degrees.

The devices then function as thermal batteries, capable of giving back the energy when it is needed. Microchips run both systems, ensuring that tap-water and room temperatures in the home hardly vary.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/05/business/energy-environment/as-wind-energy-use-grows-utilities-seek-to-stabilize-power-grid.html?_r=1

[kristopher]

1. Yep. End user storage has long been expected to play a significant role in a renewable grid.

Nice article.

[txlibdem]

3. I love the idea: no wasted wind power and citizens get the benefits

Win, win!

As everyone who has read my posts knows, I call for an end to the use of all fossil fuels as soon as possible:
2030: Coal needs to go first.
2040: Oil use then needs to end and be replaced by plant-based alternatives where needed.
2050: End the extraction and use of natural gas
2050: Then we should begin to close down any remaining nuclear power plants

The only way to achieve those goals is to take advantage of the FREE sunshine that falls to Earth and the FREE wind power that results. Solar and Wind Power can provide 100% of our energy needs -- when combined with concurrent efficiency efforts like replacing all lighting with LED light bulbs, replacing fossil burner vehicles with electric vehicles, etc.

It's all about CO2 and other toxic crud that comes from the use of fossil fuels. Ending the use of fossils needs to happen first, along with old and poorly designed or poorly sited nuclear power plants to be replaced with new safer Generation IV nuclear plants.

[Laelth]

2. Wind power BLOWS.

No doubt, we have to get away from coal, for the sake of the planet, but wind is not the solution, and this article is evidence of why wind power is not the solution, nor is it even a reasonable part of the solution.

-Laelth

[buddysmellgood]

6. It works for me. My house is powered by wind. You are wrong.

[txlibdem]

4. Make no mistake: wind power needs energy storage in order to be effective

"We Spent Billions on Wind Power… and All I Got Was a Rolling Blackout
Posted on February 2, 2011 by Anthony Watts
By Mike Smith, Meteorological Musings

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas said 7,000 megawatts of generating capacity tripped <"tripped" means failed>Tuesday night, leaving the state without enough juice. That's enough capacity to power about 1.4 million homes."

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/02/02/we-spent-billions-on-wind-power-and-all-i-got-was-a-rolling-blackout/

The lack of energy storage merely gives Neanderthals like this the ammunition to bad-mouth wind power. If all wind farms were able to store their excess energy either on-site, locally, regionally, or somewhere nationally the argument presented in this linked article would be neutered.

[txlibdem]

5. 11/03/11: Texas generates 20% of its electricity from wind power

"Wind Integration % 20.86%" from: http://www.ercot.com/content/gridinfo/generation/windintegration/2011/11/ERCOT%20Wind%20Integration%20Report%2011-03-11.pdf

And on 11/1/11, wind generated 24% of our power here in Texas.

Here's the link to all the wind integration reports:
http://www.ercot.com/gridinfo/generation/windintegration/

PS, ERCOT does not handle 100% of the power generation for Texas:

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) manages the flow of electric power to 23 million Texas customers - representing 85 percent of the state's electric load and 75 percent of the Texas land area."

http://www.ercot.com/about/

Which means that there is probably more wind generation out there than is documented by ERCOT.

[jpak]

7. This is what is happening in Maine as well, and grid-interactive electric cars can be used too

n/t